EARLY SUMMER W()]{K 61 



Shade for the Outapiary 



Shade is provided in the outapiary in several manners; bj' 

 means of shade trees, extra roofs on each hive, or in some sections 

 by "ramadas" mentioned elsewhere in this book. Care should 

 be talcen not to have too dense shade or there is a possibility of 

 encroaching too much on ventilation which is treated below as 

 one of the requisites we are seeking. 



Ventilation 



There is nothing which will more quickly induce bees to clus- 

 ter out. sulk, and get the swarming fever than a total disregard 

 of ventilation. How many an amateur or "backwoods" bee- 

 keeper reckons the working qualities of his bees by the number 

 clustered at the entrance. How many, too, are sure that this is 

 a sign that the bees are going to swarm. Who cannot recall the 

 inevitable cluster on the outside of the illy-ventilated box-hive 

 on a hot summer day. 



As one prominent beekeeper, James Heddon, said, "beekeep- 

 ing is a business of details; "and the entrance, as it affects ventila- 

 tion, is not the least of these. 



Beginning in early spring when the entrance should be expand- 

 ed to suit the needs of the growing colony, the outapiarist should 

 keep well ahead of his bees, giving at length a full width entrance 

 then adding to the ventilation either by reversing the bottom- 

 board or by raising the body of the hive from its bottom-board. 

 In the height of a honey flow and during intense heat a two inch 

 entrance in front or a one inch entrance all around is not exces- 

 sive. 



Proper spacing of frames in the hivewih also give added ventila- 

 tion. It is only recently that the value of a IJ inch spacing 

 of frames has been acknowledged as superior to the stereotyped 

 If inch spacing which most of factory-made hives today have. 



